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Saturday, October 5, 2013

Katherine Pearl Seeley Holman

Katherine Pearl
Seeleywas born on October 4 in Albany New
York. Her birth year is in question. The 1880 census lists her as “Kitty”, born
in 1871 and the Illinois Death Certificate states her year of birth as 1867. In
the family history book, Our Archipelago,
her son William “Bill” Holman listed it as 1869, with her birthplace
incorrectly listed as New Canaan, CT. (Note: all information written “within
quotes” is taken directly from Bill’s book.)

Katherine was my husband’s paternal
grandmother. She was the second daughter of William Seeley and Catherine Fitz-Allen.
The Seeleys were a long-standing family in Connecticut. Reportedly, Katherine
was “ashamed that five generations of her family had been born in the same
family home.”

At some point before 1880, the Seeleys
moved to the Albany, NY area, where her father worked as a cattle trader.

Katherine attended the Genesee Wesleyan
Seminary for Girls (Lima, New York), a proper finishing school now known as
Houghton College. The school had a religious climate which may have played a
part in Katherine’s deeply religious lifestyle.

Despite her strong opinion that decorum
was “…a primary attribute of a lady or gentleman”, Katherine did partake in
some activity that ran contrary to her views. One event involved her tying bed
sheets together to lower herself out the dorm window after hours.

While in Albany, Katherine’s father
developed a friendly competition with a gentleman by the name of Gus Swift. Gus
develop the idea of slaughtering cattle in Chicago and shipping the meat east.
He invited William Seeley to join him in Chicago as a partner. William declined
the invitation but did lend him money for the new venture. When Swift opened
the Chicago operation, he hired William as manager and the family moved to the
mid-west.

Her father’s success at Swift & Co.
affected Katherine to the point where anything associated with the company
“...was sterling silver” as was anyone who worked for Swift & Co. On the
other hand, anything labeled Armour & Company was not to be trusted,
including the Armour family itself. Katherine also felt that “…meat was
essential to the daily diet and that her boys were to learn to carve meat properly
before they finished high school.” A legacy that continues to this day is the
Holman men’s ability to carve. This love of meat has certainly been passed down
to my husband, Scott. To him, it is not a proper dinner unless there is a
serving of meat included. I, on the other hand could live on pasta!

418 Oakdale Ave. (Google Maps image)

On June 22, 1900 Katherine married John
Winchester Holman. She and her husband, “Jack” lived in their spacious home at
418 Oakdale Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. (Jack is profiled in an earlier blog
post: John "Jack" Winchester Holman

Over the next ten years the couple had
three children: Kathryn Winchester (April 17, 1902), John Winchester, Jr.
(December 6, 1904) and William Winchester (June 12, 1910).

Bill wrote that “…Mother and Dad were
very close and had a truly great marriage.”

Bill shared many details about his
mother in the family history book. She certainly had very strong
opinions and definite preferences, “…the morning Tribune and afternoon Daily
News were the only proper papers. In her view the Herald-Examiner and the
Evening American…were yellow scandal sheets.” Katherine was a “…life-long
Republican, straight-ticket voter…regarded Taft far greater than such
unworthies as Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt.” Bill also described his
mother as “…a woman of strong character and determination.”

With the financial backing of her
mother, Katherine’s husband, John built a large three-story apartment building
at 540-542 Roscoe Street. More about this project can be found in Our Archipelago.

In 1908, Katherine’s husband, John
suffered a heart attack, after which his doctor reportedly said there was
nothing more medicine could do for him. Katherine turned to prayer and
Christian Science. John died in 1918, 10 days after the death of her mother.
She became a widow with three children aged 14, 11 and 5.

Life following the death of her husband
on whom she had so depended was, of course, different. Katherine’s sister, Ida
came to live them and was a great support. Katherine devoted her life to
raising her three children. As a devout Christian Scientist, coffee, aspirin,
and liquor were to be shunned. On Sundays, Katherine and the children attended
services.

Describing his now single mother, Bill
wrote, “Mother had strong ideas about deportment, manners, decorum, religion,
and life objectives, and insisted that we toe the line. And yet, that is only
part of the story. Above all else, gentleness and love were the highest virtues.
She lived accordingly and expected us to also.”

As she became older, Katherine became
hard of hearing. She had by then adjusted her Christian Science views to allow
medical care when necessary and agreed to use a hearing aid. In her later
years, she had surgery for a malignancy.

Katherine suffered a stroke shortly
before the Hiroshima bombings in August 1945 and died on April 13, 1946 at the
age of 78. At the time of her death, she was living in Highland Park, Illinois.
She was buried on April 15, 1946 in Rosehill Cemetery.

More on the Seeley genealogy can be found in the Newberry Library in Chicago.